1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of animated toy characters.
2. Prior Art
In very recent years, animated toy characters have been manufactured and sold in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,640. Such characters include a dual track playback unit, accessible through the back of the character, for receipt and playing of a dual track tape cassette having a voice signal recorded on one track thereof, and an animation control signal recorded on a second track thereof. The voice track of course is in general merely played back through a speaker in the body of the character. The animation control signal as recorded is a pulsed width modulated multi-channel signal having a variable frame time, recorded on the tape without further modulation thereof. In these characters, one channel is used for the animation of the mouth in synchronism with the voice track, and a second channel is used for animation of the eyes, with additional channels being available for other uses.
On playback, the animation control track is demodulated and the demodulated signals used to proportionally control the servo motors controlling the animated features. The proportional control coupled with the position feedback on each servo system provides a smooth, fully controllable motion for each of the animated elements. However, the pulse width modulation signal has a signal dependent frame time, making the repetition rate of the demodulated signal longer than may be desired. Also, the signal dependent frame time makes the editing of the animation control information during the creation of a master tape difficult, as one may not merely re-tailor a segment of the animation or remove and replace a segment and have the new information fit within the exact same playback time as the original segment before modification or replacement. Finally, the pulse width demodulation and the multiple servo systems in the character to animate multiple features are more expensive than desired for many toys.
Various other animation techniques have been used in the prior art. By way of example, to eliminate the duplication of servo systems within the animated character, a single animation channel has been used to control a single servo system which animated the mouth of the character during one part of its travel and animated the eyes during another part of its travel.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,589, the animation control signals are derived directly from the single voice track. Such an arrangement has certain advantages in that the voice track need not even be prerecorded, but rather can be an impromptu voice signal provided through a hidden microphone. It has the disadvantage however, of not providing the flexibility of tailoring the animation, and may provide the appearance of mouth movements, etc., lagging the sound provided.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,794, a dual track tape is provided with an audio signal on one track and with a pulse train as an animation control signal on the second track. On playback, the pulse train is reproduced and fed to a frequency selector which detects the frequency of each pulse by an appropriate band pass network. The detected signal is amplified and transformed into a DC level control signal which is then applied to the appropriate input of a multiple self feeding relay inverter. This in turn controls programming motors operating various solenoid switches through cam disks driven by the motors to provide animation through the solenoid operation. As such, the system does not provide proportional control, and is quite mechanically and electronically complex as a result of the requirement of multiple band pass filters, motors, cam actuated switches, solenoids, and the like. Still other animation systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,287,849 and 4,139,968. None of these other systems however provide the flexibility and enchanting animation for animated characters for young children that the first system described hereabove provides because of the proportional control through an animation control signal independent of but synchronized to the voice signal to provide the animation desired. In that regard, one of the purposes of the present invention is to maintain the performance and flexibility of that animation system, while at the same time simplifying both the master tape creating process by simplifying the editing of the animation control signal, and at the same time reducing the cost of the animated character by reducing the complexity of the electronics and electromechanical control therein, all without effecting the animated characters ability to charm and captivate the youngest of children and parents alike.